805: Isabel Godin des Odonais What? Like Surviving in the Jungle is Hard or Something? Born: 16 January 1728, Riobamba, Viceroyalty of Peru (Present-day Riobamba, Ecuador) Died: 28 September 1792, Saint-Amand-Montrond, France Isabel’s father was a rich local governor in colonial Peru, but her every dream was to go to France. Therefore, it’s no surprise…
804: Alice Doherty The Minnesota Woolly Girl Born: 14 March 1887, Minneapolis, Minnesota, United States of America Died: 13 June 1933, Dallas, Texas, United States of America Alice, like Antonietta Gonsalvus, lived with Hypertrichosis. Hypertrichosis is a genetic trait that makes hair grow out all over your body. Alice is the only known person to…
“I can now say that I have gone through my purgatory while still on this earth.” 803: Micaela Almonester Real Estate Developer with a Hellish Homelife Born: 6 November 1795, New Orleans, Spanish Controlled Louisiana Colony (Present-day New Orleans, Louisiana, United States of America) Died: 20 April 1874, Paris, France Micaela was also the Baroness…
802: Myrtle Corbin “The Four-Legged Girl From Texas” Born: 12 May 1868, Lincoln County, Tennessee, United States of America Died: 6 May 1928, Cleburne, Texas, United States of America Original Name: Josephine Myrtle Corbin Myrtle was born a dipygus; meaning she had two separate pelvises side by side from the waist down (including two sets…
801: Cindy Crawford One of the World’s First Supermodels Born: 20 February 1966, DeKalb, Illinois, United States of America Original Name: Cynthia Ann Crawford Cindy is also an actress and spokesperson. Her modeling career really started when she was seventeen. Cindy earned the nickname “Baby Gia” for her resemblance to Gia Carangi; arguably the world’s…
800: Jeanne Boulet Victim of the Beast of Gévaudan Born: c.1750, Most Likely France Died: 30 June 1764, Gévaudan, France (Present-day Lozère, France) The beast was a terrifying man-eating mythical beast that killed around 100 and left 300 more injured over a three-year span, from 1764 to 1767. Jeanne was the first victim to die…
799: Antonietta Gonzalvus The Hairy Noblewoman Born: c.1588, France Death Date Unknown, Capodimonte, Italy Also Spelled: Antonietta Gonzalez Antonietta was the daughter of one of the most famous Hypertrichosis sufferers, Petrus Gonsalvus, and his “normal” wife Catherine. Antonietta was one of seven children. Three of her siblings were “normal” and three others besides Antonietta had…
798: Catherine Gonsalvus Beauty was a Real Woman, Believe it or Not Lived: 1500’s Europe (Probably Born in France) Catherine was the wife of a man named Petrus. Petrus suffered from hypertrichosis; and when he was brought to the court of Henri II of France at the age of ten, most believed he was a…
“Life is waning away, and with the exception of my own immediate family, I am cut off from all I have ever known & loved in my youth & my dear old Arlington I cannot bear to think of that used as it is now & so little hope of my ever getting there again….
“Every scientist dreams of doing something that can help the world.” 796: Tu Youyou Pharmaceutical Chemist Born: 30 December 1930, Zhejiang Ningbo, China Youyou won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine, 2015. She is the chief scientist at the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine (where she has worked since 1965). Youyou pioneered a…